


Iron Ladies

by havisham



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: 2 maidens 1 vague allusion to death, Dysfunctional Relationships, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Terrifying Tolkien Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 01:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8382739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havisham/pseuds/havisham
Summary: They should be close. They aren't.





	

Rían’s eyes were blue-grey, and runny, like an overflowing stream. Her face turned red and mottled when she cried, and she cried often. Especially when Morwen spoke to her. It had ever been thus -- they were cousins, certainly, but they had never been friends. 

 

“How can you be so cruel!” Rían said, little rivers of tears flowing down her face. Morwen was stiff and unapologetic, as hard, she imagined, as Rían was soft, dark where she was light. 

 

“I only meant that you must do your share and not cry. You cannot depend on the kindness of strangers,” Morwen said wearily, going back to her scrubbing. Her hands, once so soft and ladylike, had grown calloused and red in the months after their terrifying escape over the mountains. It had taken some time to get Rían to let go of her hand then; they seemed to be frozen together. 

 

In Dor-lómin, they had been made welcome, they had been kindly received. But still, Morwen felt keenly that they were strangers, in a strange land. It was important to pull one’s weight, to not be seen as a burden. Burdens had to be left behind, to freeze, to die. 

 

Rían, the dreamy-eyed poet, could not even begin to understand. She had been so young when the end had come, too young to understand what Morwen thought she herself had been born knowing. 

 

Rían sniffed and seemed to calm herself, wiping her face with the sleeve of her dress. 

 

They worked quietly for some time, when suddenly, Rían stood and overturned the bucket of frigid water on the stone floor. Inexorably, it sloshed over to where Morwen worked, and soaked the knees of her woolen dress.

 

Morwen took a sharp breath. She looked up at her cousin in mute disbelief, her hands began to shake. 

 

Rían’s voice was quiet but vehement. “Never fear. I shall _never_ depend on you. I will die first.” 

 

And Morwen closed her eyes for a moment and bowed her head. Rían’s words had the ring of prophecy about them. 

 

And she left Morwen there, working in silence, and in the cold that was as hard as iron.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my beloved beta-in-arms, Elleth!


End file.
